Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My Church History

As you may no I grew up going to church from the time I was born. I was one of the lucky ones who had amazing parents who wanted their kids raised in the church and surrounded by people who love God. Looking back to when I was a kid I don't remember a Sunday where church was not our top priority.

My first memories come from First Baptist Church here in Lakeland. We would wake up at 6 am in order to get all 4 kids ready and to Sunday School on time. Church was 30-40 minutes away but we always went. We spent Wednesday nights there too. I was a GA and did all the the fun things kids do with the church.

When I was in about 7th grade, about the time we started having the choice a little on whether or not to go to church, Mom made the decision to move to a church closer to home. Scott Lake Baptist is about 5 minutes away and that is where my family is currently members.

That is where I went to Youth Group up until my sophomore year of high school. The problem I had there was I found the group to be very cliquy. And if you didn't make it every Sunday and go to all the events you eventually got phased out it seemed. I didn't really go to church in the summers due to being at the beach and going to The Vineyard for camp.

Needless to say by my sophomore year of high school I was not enjoying going to church. So when I heard about the youth group at First Presbyterian I convinced my siblings to go check it out. Several of our camp friends attended there so it was fun seeing them.

I fell in love with this group of people and quickly made friends. The youth pastors and their wives were all amazing and I finally felt like I fit in. Then two years passed, lots of drama, and I started to lose touch with the group. I didn't feel like I fit in anymore so I stopped going.

Then I entered college. I can remember that first Sunday of all of us trying to find a church to go to. We went to three in one morning. I was with the girls and we all came from different backgrounds, but didn't want to go somewhere on our own.

I went with friends to Harrison Christian Church in Johnson City. I immediately got involved with the Children's Ministry there and fell in love. The people there were so nice to me and loved me. I spent all four years of school there and miss it so much.

Harrison taught me that just because the denomination was not what I was use to, I could still worship there. It is the people who label which type of Christian you are, but God is in all places at all times.

I have loved each church I have attended, and now I am in search of a new one. Since I have moved home I am in need of a new church home. And I just may have found it! But you will have to wait to learn all about that one!

2 comments:

I can kind of relate to this. I grew up in a small church, and had the best time in high school and youth group. But because the church was so small, there really wasn't a ministry for college students. Basically, ever since high school I've kind of been wandering around, visiting a few different churches, but haven't truly settled into one. I'm sure I need to make more of an effort too! Haha